Generally, micro-electromechanical systems refer to miniaturized mechanical and electro-mechanical devices e.g., sensors, valves, gears, mirrors and actuators embedded in semiconductor chips. Currently, conventional electronic device packaging methods are reaching their limits, as the demands for miniaturization and higher density of devices continue to increase. Typically, MEMS components are integrated into a system at a package integration level. For the package integration, MEMS structures and complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) transistors are fabricated on different silicon substrates, as discrete components. These different discrete components are then integrated into the package.
Typically, the MEMS processing and CMOS processing have different process requirements. One of the conventional MEMS integration techniques is a MEMS-first processing technique. According to the MEMS-first processing technique, the MEMS components are processed before transistors and interconnects. Another one of conventional MEMS integration techniques is a CMOS-first processing technique. According to the CMOS -first processing technique the transistors are processed before the MEMS processing.
Conventional MEMS integration techniques are bulky that leads to a “silicon area” penalty and increased manufacturing cost.